160th Carnival Of Debt Reduction - Bailout Edition

Posted by The Happy Rock on October 6, 2008

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Welcome to the 160th Carnival of Debt Reduction.

This particular collection of posts related to debt reduction is dedicated to $700 billion bailout plan passed by the US government. The dedication isn’t because the bill is a great piece of government action, because in reality it is an example of bill bloat, earmarks, and the government’s willingness to go into debt for us while taking more power away from us. I say to heck with the bailout, let’s focus on being responsible for ourselves and use these posts to help bail ourselves out. In these rocky financial times it is even more important that you are in complete control of your money not banks and creditors.

Editor’s Top Picks

NCN writes How I Live Without Borrowing Money

FMF writes about Seven Brainless Borrowing Behaviors

FWP writes about Our new-to-us used truck (or, why pay $26k when you can pay $4k instead?)

PT writes about his Debt Target Update: September 2008

DD’s Monthly Expense Checkup - September 2008

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 4, 2008

Here is the latest installment of my monthly expenses. Below are the results from September:

$830.00 - Mortgage
$643.00 - Daycare
$464.09 - Groceries
$330.00 - Van Payment
$194.16 - Gas
$136.62 - Electricity
$135.79 - Medical Bills
$125.00 - Student Loan
$115.75 - Phone & Internet
$113.59 - Misc Household
$77.15 - Eating Out
$55.00 - Tennis
$42.00 - Haircuts
$35.00 - Babysitting
$30.63 - Oil Change
$26.40 - Kid’s stuff
$15.00 - Donations
$1.50 - Video rental

For a total of $3,370.68

Considering that our last two months totaled $3875.84 and $4170.34, I’d say we’re finally seeing some improvement.

Some of you will remember that I’ve trying out a new spending strategy of paying with cash for groceries, entertainment and other misc household items. I was hoping to save $100 a month in the grocery and misc categories. And while I reached that goal, I don’t think it had much to do with paying with cash, but more to do with buying too much stuff last month. I’ll keep at it another month and see what kind of results we have after two months.

Improvements:

Daycare - As I’ve mentioned before the billing cycle in a month behind, so the bills are finally reflecting the fact that we’ve dropped down to 20 hours a week (2 kids).
Medical Bills - I said this was deceiving last month as those were old bills. By even mentioning this topic I instantly jinxed us and both kids got sick at the same time (right before a trip out of town of course).
Misc Household - We shaved about $90 off of this one, but I think that was due to August’s strange purchases more than us saving this month.

Needs Improvement:

Dinning out - Over half of this total was from our trip to Minneapolis, but you can’t expect us to go back to the Twin Cites and not go out to eat
Tennis - Actually this is for a 3 month membership in an indoor court. Last year it was quite a bit more than this, but I played twice a week last winter, this year I’m playing once every other week.I’d say there wouldn’t be much expense in the category the rest of the year, but I just broke a string, so look for that next month.
Video Rental - I know we only spent $1.50(Blockbuster), but guess what we turned it in late, so we’ll have a late fee next time we rent one. Now I remember why we held on to my Netflix membership for so long.

** Confessional time ** This wasn’t all of our expenses, I had $4,000 in college expenses (not sure if wanted to chart that) and we also had a $1900 Health insurance payment too (But this was covered in my severance, so I didn’t count it. In January, it’ll be up to us) ** End of Confession **

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me

ING Gets It Right - The We The Savers Statement

Posted by The Happy Rock on October 2, 2008

I thought this was so well thought out and written that it deserves a mention. ING Direct put out a We, The Savers statement that clearly identifies how we can be responsible for ourselves during this rough economic stretch. I appreciate the sentiment, plus ING is my bank for both checkings and savings and I love their services.

Here is the list :

We will spend less than we earn.
We will use our home as a savings account.
We will take care of our money.
We will defend our credit worthiness.
We will ignore unsolicited credit card marketing.
We will know the cost of borrowing.
We will invest for the long term.
We will take care of the things we have.
We will remember what matters.
We will be heard.

Click here to read the full statement to get a breakdown of each point.

» Filed Under Banks, Financial Succes

Paul Newman - A Life That Gave

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 1, 2008

I know this is a personal finance site and my role is mainly to describe my journey out of debt, but I can’t let the passing of a certain Hollywood legend happen without commenting.

I can’t think of a cooler guy than Paul Newman. Jack Nicholson might be closer to the standard definition of cool, but when you delve a little deeper Paul Newman has him beat by a mile.

Handsome Hollywood Superstar, Race Car Driver, & Philanthropist.

It’s possible I’m a little biased because “Cool Hand Luke” & “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” are two of my all-time favorite films. On our second date, I made my wife watch, “Cool Hand Luke” If she wouldn’t have liked it, there wouldn’t have been a third date.

I’m not kidding.

Here’s another Cool Hand Luke story: My brother was dared to try the “50 egg” stunt. He made it to 33. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about run, don’t walk to your local library or visit your friend who owns every movie ever made, and watch this film right away.

I always give credit to William Goldman’s screenplay when I profess my love of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, but a good script is worthless without great actors. And Newman did a wonderful job of playing Butch.

Our mutual appreciation for this film gave me and my father-in-law something to talk about when we first met. And to this day when I take my Grandma bowling, she uses the moniker, “Sundance” and I’m “Butch”.

But oddly enough it was his portrayal of Sully in “Nobody’s Fool” that really made him a star in my mind. That film has a soft spot with me, because Sully is exactly what my Dad would’ve been like if he lived to be an old man. When my children ask about their Grandpa John, I’ll show them this film.

But it wasn’t just his acting that earned my admiration.

Newman’s Own is a well-known brand that we see everyday when we visit the grocery store, but what makes that brand special is that they donate their profits to charity. Over $250 Million has been given already.

For a guy who could have just sat back and counted his money, relishing in his fame, Paul Newman chose to make a difference in peoples lives. It takes a lot of courage to step out and do extraordinary things, and in that regard Paul Newman was a very brave man.

In tribute, I’m going to swing by the store today and pick up some Newman’s Own Salsa and some Light Sun Dried Tomato Salad Dressing (paying cash of course). And after I put the kids to bed, I’ll watch Cool Hand Luke for the umpteenth time.

Thank you Paul for a life well lived…we’ll miss you.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me

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